Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Peppermint, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. Performance of pigs on all treatments was similar, including the positive and negative controls. At the tested inclusion levels (0, 0.5, 2.5, and 5.0%), no statistical advantage existed over the 5-week study when compared with a positive control diet with 50 g/ton Mecadox or with a negative control containing no antibacterial inclusions. Increasing levels of peppermint did not influence the muscle characteristics evaluated.